Garage door operating and locking means



Oct. 24', 1933.

o. HEBERT ET AL GARAGE DOOR OPERATING AND LOCKING MEANS Filed Sept. 25, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet l Oct. 24, 1933.

o. HEBERT ET A1. 1,931,727

GARAGE DOOR OPERATING AND LOCKING MEANS Filed Sept. 25. 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Oct. 24, 1933 PATENT erica GARAGE DOOR OPERATING AND LOCKING MEANS Onesime Hebert and Rosaire Drouin, Waterville, Maine Application September 23, 1932 Serial No. 634,590

3 Claims.

The invention aims to provide a new and improved operating means for a garage door, enabling opening oi ythe door whenever desired by effecting operation of an electric motor.

Another object of the invention is to provide a novel relation of elements. whereby the batu tery of the automobile to be housed in the garage, supplies the electric current for driving the doorcperating motor.

A still further object is to provide novel locking means for holding `the door closed, together with means for releasing said locking means when the door isto be opened. i

` With the foregoing in View, the invention resides in the novel subject matter hereinafter described and'claimed', description being accomplished by reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 is a top plan View showing the invention operatively connected with a lgarage door, the latter-being open.

'Fig 2 is an inner side elevation showing the relation of parts when the door is closed.

A Fig. 3is a diagram of the vparts carried by .the automobile for establishing an electrical connection between( the car battery and. the motor of the doorcperating means.

Fig. 4 is'avtransverse sectional viewon line 4- of Fig. 3. Y 'y Y J Fig.V 5 is a vertical sectional viewrsubstantially on line 5 5 of Fig. I2.

A preferred construction has been shown and will be specifically described, with the understanding however, that Within the scope ofthe invention as claimed, variations may bey made.

-The invention is shown operatively connected with one type'of door, but may be used with doorsfof cthertypes.v The door shownembodies four sections 6, 'TL-Sand 9, the sections 6 and '7 being hingedly connected with each other at 10 and the vsections 8 and 9 being similarly connected as shown at l1. The section 6 is carried byasditably mounted vertical shaft 12 and the section-"9 is similarly carried by another'shaftlB. Thefree edges of the sections 7 and 8 are provided with guide rollers 14 engaging an overhead track 15. The upper ends of the shafts 12 and 13 are provided with crank arms 16 and 1'7 respectively, and longitudinally adjustable rods 13 and 19 are pivoted to these arms so that when the rods areoperated, the shafts 12 and 13 will be turned to operate the door sections. For operating the rods 18 and 19, a novel assemblage of elements, now to be described, is provided.

Fixedly mounted in the garage over the door frame, is a frame 20 which carries upper and lower bearings 21 and 22, in which the armature shaft 23 of an electric motor 24., is rotatably mounted. This motor includes a' housing 25 which is rotatably connected with the armature 6.0i shaft 23 and is free to rotate upon the latter, and insofar as iield and armature magnets, commutator, brushes and the like are concerned, Vthe motor is conventional. It includes two terminals 26 and 27 which will be referred to. 6?

The shaft 23 is operatively connected with a train of reducing gearing 28 mounted on the frame 20. The last gear 29 of this train 28'has an off-center pivotal connection 30 with a horizontal link or rod 31, and this link or rod is pivoted at 32 toa crank arm 33 secured to the motor housing 25. Secured on this housing 25 is a ring gear 34 which meshes with two gear segments 35 and 36 respectively, said segments being suitably mounted on the frame 20. The segments 35 7.51. and 36 are pivoted at 37 and 38 respectively, to the'rods 18 and 19.

When the circuit of the motor 2e is completed, the shaft 23 drives the gear train 29, and the rod or.` link 31 connected with the gear 29, then co- 89;. acts with the crank arm 33 in turning the motor housing 25 upon said shaft 23. The ring gear 34 turns with this housing and operates the segments 35 and 36, and these segments operate the rods 18 and 19 to open the sections 6-7 and 85' 8-9 of the door. The parts are so positioned and proportioned that one-half revolution of the gear 29 causes link 31 and crank arm 33 to turnthe motor housing 25 one-quarter. of a revolution, and this movement of the housing is sufficient to causeA the segments 35 and 36 to effect opening of the door. At the completion of said half revolution ofthe gear 29, the motor circuit is broken and the door therefore stands open to allow a machine t0 enter or leave the garage. After such entrance 95, or exit, the motor ycircuit is again established and the next half revolution of the gear 29, causes link 31 to turn crank arm 33 and motor housing 25 back to the position from which they started, thereby causing the segments 35 and 36 to again 100 close the door. At this time, the motor circuit is again broken and the parts stand in readiness to again open the door When the motor circuit is next re-established. While the gear 29 always rotates in the same direction, the arm 33 merely 105 swings, Vfirst in one direction and then in the other, to alternately effect door opening and door closing. Y

Outside of the garage, in the driveway leading into the latter, are two contact plates 39 and 110 40. A conductor 41 leads from the plate 39 to a curved contact plate 42 suitably carried by and insulated from the frame 20, and the terminal 26 of the motor 24 is provided with a brush 43 engaging said contact plate 42. Provision is also made for conducting current from the contact plate 40 to the motor terminal 27. For convenience, plate 40 may be grounded as indicated at 44 and terminal 27 may be grounded as represented at 45.

Two contact arms 46 and 47 are mounted on the automobile 48 to be housed within the garage, and said contact arms are in electrical connection with the terminals 49 and 50 of the conventional car battery 5l. It thus follows that when the car is stopped over the plates 39 and 40 and the contact arms 46 and 47 are brought into engagement with said contact plates, current will iiow from the battery 51 through the motor 24, thereby driving this motor to open the door.

For illustrative purposes, we have shown the arms 46 and 47 both carried by a rock shaft 52 suitably mountedupon the automobile 48. The bearings 53 for this rock shaft may well be in conducting engagement with parts of the chassis frame, and the arm 46 may be in similar engagement with the shaft 52. We have shown the arm 47 however, insulated from this shaft 52, as indicated at 54 in Fig. 4. The battery terminal 49 is grounded to the chassis frame by the conventional conductor 55 and the terminal 50 is electrically connected with the arm 47 by a conductor 56. Current may thus flow from the terminal through the conductor 56, through 35` the contacts 47 and 39, throughthe conductor 4l and through the contact 42 and brush 43, to the motor terminal 26, and may return from the motor terminal 27 to the contactl plate 40, through the arm 46, shaft 52, bearings 53, chassis frame and conductor to the battery terminal 49.

The contact plates 39 and 40 and co-acting elements will effect opening of the garage door when the car approaches from the exterior of the latter. Similar contact plates (not shown)` may be provided at the inner side of the garage to co-act with the arms 46 and 47 and other related parts, to open the door when the car is to be taken from the garage.

For turning the rock shaft 52 to downwardly swing the arms 46 and 47, any suitable means maybe employed. For illustrative purposes, a crank arm is shown on said shaft connected with a cable or the like 6l trained over appropriate guides 62 and connected with an appropriate knob or the like 63. A coiled spring 64 may be employed to normally hold the arms 46 and 47 raised, but a pull upon the knob 63 will cause downward swinging of said arms to engage them with the contact plates 39 and 40. They are held in engagement with these plates until the garage door has been entirely opened and releasing the knob will then permit spring 64 to freethecontact arms from the plates, breaking the circuit of the motor.

Two locking bolts 65 have been shown for the door sections 7 and 8, said bolts being slidably mounted in appropriate brackets 66 at the upper end of the door frame. These bolts are provided with beveled lower ends such as shown at 67 in Fig. 5, toy engage keepers such as 68 carried by the door sections, and each bolt is provided with a spring 69 for normally forcing it downward. Two lifting arms 70 are provided for the bolts 65, said arms having suitable sliding connections 7l with said bolts which permit upward movement of the latter with respect to the arms 70, when the door is closed and its final closing movement causes ascent of the bolts 65, due to the beveled lower ends 67 of the latter. The arms 70 are rigidly carried by the rock shaft 72 which extends longitudinally at the upper end of the door frame. This rock shaft is provided with a crank arm 7 3 to which is pivoted the lower end of an angular rod 74, said rod being slidably mounted in appropriate guides 75. The upper end of rod 74 is co-operable with a cam 76 on the above described gear 29. This gear rotates several inches before the door sections actually start to open, and during such initial rotation of said gear, the cam 76 depresses the rod 74, thereby rocking the shaft 72 and causing the arms 70 to raise the bolts 65, releasing these bolts from engagement with the door sections 7 and 8, so that the movement of the operating means can open the door. After the door has cleared the bolts 65, the cam 76 clears the rod 74 and the locking means returns to normal position with `the bolts 65 lowered. Thus, when the door is again closed, the door sections 7 and 8 strike the beveled bolt ends 67 upon the final door-closing movement, forcing said bolts upwardly against the action of the springs 69. As soon as the keepers 68 arrive under the bolts, these springs again lower said bolts, locking the door closed. During the upward sliding of the bolts 65, the connections 71 come into play to allow such sliding without moving the arms 70, rock shaft 72, etc.

We claim:-

1. A door-operating mechanism comprising an electric motor having a housing and an armature shaft rotatably connected with said housing, stationary means for rotatably mounting said shaft, leaving said housing free to rotate on said shaft, reduction gearing driven by said shaft, mounting means for said reduction gearing, means operatively connected with said reduction gearing and said housing for rotating the latter upon said shaft when the gearing is driven, and means operatively connected with the actuated by said housing for operating a door.

2. A door-operating mechanism comprising an electric motor having a housing and an armature shaft rotatably connected with said housing, stationary means for rotatably mounting said shaft, leaving said housing free to rotate on said shaft, reduction gearing driven by said shaft, mounting means for said reduction gearing, a rod having olf-center connections with the last gear of said gearing and said housing for rotating the latter upon said shaft when the gearing is driven, and means operatively connected with and actuated by said housing for operating a door.

3. A door-operating mechanism comprising an electric motor having a housing and an armature shaft rotatably connected with said housing, stationary means for rotatably mounting said shaft, leaving said housing free to rotate on said shaft, reduction gearing driven by said shaft, mounting means for said reduction gearing, means operatively connected with said reduction gearing and said housing for rotating the latter upon said shaft when the gearing is driven, a gear secured to and rotatable with said-housing, a segment meshing with said gear, mounting means for said segment, and a door-operating rod having an offcenter connection with said segment.

ONESIME HEBERT. ROSAIRE DROUIN. 

